Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS March Meeting 2020
Volume 65, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 2–6, 2020; Denver, Colorado
Session A18: Challenges and Best Practices for Preparing Future Physics TeachersCareers Education Invited Undergrad Friendly
|
Hide Abstracts |
Sponsoring Units: FED Chair: Monica Plisch, American Physical Society Room: 205 |
Monday, March 2, 2020 8:00AM - 8:36AM |
A18.00001: Addressing the Critical Physics Teacher Shortage Through Advocacy Invited Speaker: Brian Pyper There is a documented critical shortage of qualified physics teachers in the US today. Data from several sources are confirming this need. Some well-intentioned regulatory demands are exacerbating the problem, but have solutions that you can help with by knowing what they are and wisely advocating for improved policies and processes. |
Monday, March 2, 2020 8:36AM - 9:12AM |
A18.00002: Preparing Physics Teachers by Building Bridges Between High Schools and Colleges Invited Speaker: Thomas Noviello Physics Education Research has made substantial advancements towards understanding how to offer best practices to ensure equity amongst all learners. However, this has not translated into an increased graduation rate of physics teachers within the United States. PhysTEC aims to address this crisis through granting the funds for universities to hire a Teacher-in-Residence. In this position, the Teacher-in-Residence has a goal of promoting the field of teaching and preparing prospective teachers through direct experience and fieldwork. At Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), a bridge is being built between the university and local high schools through various pathways. One of these pathways is the creation of a science fair course, which is structured project-based learning. A partnership between WPI and Leominster High School affords WPI students the opportunity to engage in curriculum development, and for the high school students to become familiar with research-based approaches to problem solving. Aspirant teachers will not only become familiar with how to engage students throughout a lesson, but will also understand how to apply the elements of backward design to create effective curriculum. It is believed that this will create thoughtful and engaged physics teachers. |
Monday, March 2, 2020 9:12AM - 9:48AM |
A18.00003: Getting the Facts Out About the STEM Teaching Profession Invited Speaker: Wendy Adams The Get the Facts Out (GFO) project is a joint effort between four national societies and the Colorado School of Mines to change the conversation around grade 7-12 physics, chemistry, and math teaching careers. We have developed a toolkit of recruitment materials which are designed to be customizable and adaptable to the local situation. To develop these materials and better understand best practices around recruiting math and science teachers, GFO has a rigorous research arm. Our research includes the study of both student, faculty, and the general public’s perceptions of the teaching profession including development of instruments to measure these. We also have embarked on a study to identify emotionally engaging ways to share facts about the profession. Finally, to measure the effectiveness of the project, we have an aggressive research design that includes annual collection of qualitative data from eighteen departments and quantitative data from another ~50 departments. |
Monday, March 2, 2020 9:48AM - 10:24AM |
A18.00004: Departmental support for future physics teachers: Creating community, nurturing identity Invited Speaker: Eleanor W Close The physics department at Texas State University has recently experienced a dramatic increase in pre-service physics teachers. We attribute this primarily to students’ experiences in our Physics Learning Assistant (LA) program and to the financial and mentoring support available through our NSF Noyce teacher scholarship program. Our LA program serves all sections of the calculus-based introductory physics sequence, and has a particular focus on supporting LAs’ sense of belonging. LA Program structures are informed by the theory of Communities of Practice. The majority of our majors now serve as LAs for at least one semester. Those who pursue K-12 teacher certification are eligible for Noyce scholarships of $10-15K. Noyce Scholars receive mentoring and professional development through monthly Saturday STEM Seminars, which also serve as a catalyst for community among the Scholars. Together, these programs positively impact students’ identity as physics learners and teachers, and their recruitment into teaching careers. |
Monday, March 2, 2020 10:24AM - 11:00AM |
A18.00005: A Research-Based Rubric for Driving Improvement in Physics Teacher Preparation. Invited Speaker: Stephanie Chasteen Given the insufficient number of well-qualified future physics teachers, physics programs often seek guidance for how to address this national need. But, as the saying goes, “if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Measurement tools can provide useful guidance, both by defining excellence and providing a means to measure progress towards excellence. This talk describes the development of such a measurement tool – the Physics Teacher Education Program Analysis (PTEPA) Rubric. The rubric defines levels of success in several areas that are important for physics teacher education, such as strength of program leadership, or the content of licensure courses, based on observed practices at 8 “thriving” U.S. physics teacher education programs. Initial findings suggest that thriving programs are strong in multiple areas (especially institutional commitment, leadership, and collaboration among partners in education and physics), and that several areas of strength align with those indicated by the existing physics teacher education literature. However, thriving programs are not necessarily strong in all areas, instead reflecting local conditions at the institutional and state level. The rubric and its’ associated supporting materials are intended to shed light on critical practices in physics teacher education, supporting research and hypothesis testing. The rubric is also intended to help program leaders in using a process of continuous improvement to strengthen local programs. We will briefly describe development of the rubric, insights gained from it, and how physics programs can use it to drive improvements. |
Follow Us |
Engage
Become an APS Member |
My APS
Renew Membership |
Information for |
About APSThe American Physical Society (APS) is a non-profit membership organization working to advance the knowledge of physics. |
© 2024 American Physical Society
| All rights reserved | Terms of Use
| Contact Us
Headquarters
1 Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844
(301) 209-3200
Editorial Office
100 Motor Pkwy, Suite 110, Hauppauge, NY 11788
(631) 591-4000
Office of Public Affairs
529 14th St NW, Suite 1050, Washington, D.C. 20045-2001
(202) 662-8700